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Why the Palladium Theater became an organ donor
The Palladium Theater’s 100-year-old pipe organ is being re-homed.
Designated an Historic Landmark in 2012, the Palladium (253 5th Avenue N.) was built in 1925 as the First Church of Christ, Scientist. The massive organ, known as Skinner Opus 552, has been in the space since the doors first opened.
That was then, this is now.
“We’ve been here, running this place for almost 18 years – and it’s been used three times in that period,” said Palladium Theater executive director Paul Wilborn.
“Nobody’s coming to us to do the big pipe organ concert because there are better places to do it. Churches have them. St. Pete College has a magnificent one at the Gibbs campus.”
The 7,000-square-foot Palladium has been owned and operated by St. Petersburg College since 2007.
The organ, with its two stories of steel pipes, is being donated to St. Thomas Episcopal Church on Snell Isle.
Wednesday night brings a “decommission concert,” featuring members of the St. Petersburg Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, with choir and vocal soloists.
Veteran local newsman John Wilson and his wife, Mary K. Wilson, will host an evening of history, and music from this particular pipe organ’s history.
E.M. Skinner (1866-1960) is credited with innovations in pipe organ technology, specifically in the field of electro-pneumatic action – in other words, using electricity to control the opening and closing of air in the massive pipes, as dictated by the keyboards and foot pedals.
Reportedly, Skinner built nearly 800 pipe organs between 1901 and 1942.
His Opus 552 was shipped to St. Petersburg, from the workshop in Boston, in 1925 (one of five such organs commissioned by Florida churches that year). The First Church of Christ, Scientist was still under construction when Opus 552 arrived over the summer.
It was played during the first services in June, 1926.
While the organ initially included 32 individual stops, 39 ranks and a four-manual console, the workings were modified in 1972, by the Berkshire Organ Company, and again in 1994 by the Reuter Organ Company. It now has 42 stops and numerous additions.
In 1998 the church building – including the Skinner organ – was sold to the nonprofit Palladium Theater Inc., which transformed the vintage 1925 sanctuary into the Hough Concert Hall. The two-story organ loft remained.
The massive organ had to be moved backstage for every single performance.
“This one is only a Skinner in name,” Wilborn lamented. “It’s been repaired and changed over the years, long before we got it. So it’s not the classic instrument that it once was.”
Although the Palladium staff have kept it maintained, the organ is considered somewhat primitive by today’s standards (it has no computerized memory, for example).
“By making those modifications, they took away much of its original value,” said Damon Dougherty, the Palladium’s operations director. “But there are some pieces in original condition that are going to be re-installed at St. Thomas’s.”
Moving day, Dougherty added, will be June 23. “So basically, the organ goes on to live another life.”
Deeming the Skinner Opus 552 superfluous to needs was not a quick decision for Wilborn and the Palladium board, but its considerable presence could impede the ongoing capital campaign to improve space, sightlines and sound quality for the theater’s upcoming centennial.
“Some of the pipes will stay here, so we’re gaining this beautiful look,” Wilborn said. “And by taking out the loft, we’re gaining a whole performance space behind the stage.”
Admission to Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. event, “A Century of Skinner,” is by donation.
ESa rendering of the remodeled Palladium Theater (cross-section).
